The Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) and KPMG reported that the UK permanent job placements index rose to 50.5 in August, up from 50.0 in July. This marks the first increase in nearly four years. Temporary billings also grew at their second-fastest pace in over three years.
While UK vacancies continued to decline, the rate of decrease was the second-weakest in almost two years. Candidate availability increased at the fastest pace in three months, partly due to redundancies. Starting salaries for permanent positions saw their largest growth since January.
In the US, employers added 162,000 jobs in August, significantly exceeding the 65,000 expected by economists. The unemployment rate remained at 4.1%, while annual wage growth slowed to a five-year low of 3.1%.
Following the US data, the S&P 500 fell by up to 0.4% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped more than 260 points. According to the CME FedWatch tool, the probability of a rate hike at the next Federal Reserve meeting on September 16 has risen to just under 60%.
Bitcoin (BTC) reacted to the report by dropping up to 3.5% to $78,649 after initially pushing above $80,000. Investors are now monitoring whether the UK's hiring recovery and the US stock market rally can withstand potential tighter monetary policy.
